CM Punk Returns to TV in Wake of AEW Firing

CM Punk is back in the mixed martial arts world.

By Brian Jones

CM Punk is back on television after being fired by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The past weekend, Punk joined the commentary team for Cage Fury Fighting Championships (CFFC) 125. And during the broadcast, Punk said he has time on his hands for the next two months. 

The appearance comes after Punk was let go by AEW on Sept. 2. He last appeared on AEW TV on Aug. 27 and was fired after a backstage incident involving him and Jack Perry. "I don't want to discuss the terms of the separation, in that sense," Khan said at the AEW All Out media scrum on Sept. 3, per Wrestling Inc. "I think it's best to say – first of all, I very much want to thank CM Punk, Phil, for everything he did for AEW as a wrestler. But, I don't think it was an easy decision for anybody on the discipline committee or for the outside counsel or for me to do something like that. But I do think it was the right move, and as far as what's going to happen in the future, I can't speak to that. I'm not the attorneys who interpret all that language."

Punk signed with CFFC in November 2018 and made his first appearance on commentary on CFFC 71. He worked with the company regularly until he signed with AEW in 2021. Punk returned to CFFC on Nov. 10, 2022, and the show aired on UFC Fight Pass, per Fightful. After Punk left WWE, he competed in two mixed martial arts matches, fighting Mickey Gall at UFC 203 and battling Mike Jackson at UFC 225. 

The loss of Punk is tough because he was one of the top stars in the company. But AEW star Bryan Danielson is confident AEW will be stronger than it was before. "In any job, when you lose somebody who's very important, or you lose somebody you really like working with, that's hard," Danielson told Sports Illustrated. "But everyone keeps doing the job. And any time there is loss or controversy or struggle inside an organization, it's a chance to bring people closer. 

"It's also a chance to divide people. So you have this thing where you can use struggle to make your life worse, or you can use struggle to make your life better. When I lost my father, I came out on the backside. I was worse. Struggling with my depression, I've come out of it better. So how you approach something and how you learn from something, that's what makes the difference."

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